Poland - France (EuroVolley 2009 Final)

I love both teams!

As I very regretted then that I was not there at these championships. I was very proud of them and it has not changed to this day.

oj pamiętam ten mecz i to że na koniec poryczałam się z radości że nasi panowie zdobyli złoto TO BYŁY PIĘKNE DNI :):):)

look at the set 0:16:40 :D:D Zagumny rulezz....:) i love this guy!

for Brazil one of the hardest. in quarterfinals Italy, in semis Serbia, in final Russia. for example Serbia have very easy way to the semis... so in that case you're right, when you say, each tournament is a different story.

I'd say 2002 worlds was the toughest. Like I said, each case is different.

I thought on the 2006 WCH in Japan, when I mentioned Brazilian part of the draw:)

Henrique, yes, but at the Olympics you have only one game to the medals, game in quarterfinal. at the WCH almost every game is important. for example at the WCH you have to play 9 games to reach semis. I remembered Brazilian part of the draw with teams like: Italy, France, Cuba, USA, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Czech republic. 8 teams for semis, and only only two passing. or last WCH in Italy, wit unusual system competition...

Hey guys, a competition gets tougher depending on pool seeding, scheduling, among other things. I remember 2004 Olympics when all semifinalists came from the same pool – that was really unbalanced. Each tournament is a different story.

I agree.

of course I almost forget to mentioned another great vball country from that period, Cuba. they have great results at the WCH in last 20 years, but they never won medal at the Olympics. I think, it is harder to win a medal at the WCH than the OG.

ok than. you're right. by the way, can somebody post previous medalist in ECH, WCH and OG? I think that will be interesting... when some of those competitions finish in future, we just put medalists in our list:)

@vatreni: you're right, but HCLT and I were talking about European Teams only (since the topic here refers to ECh).

I remember two great dominance: Italy 1989 - 1998 and Brazil 2001 - ... in this period appear also great teams that win the medals: the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Poland, Bulgaria, France ... but no one was dominant like those two teams. best period of Serbian volleyball was from 1998 - 2002.

Sure, Pearl! If you look at the whole podium, those four teams were the big guys in Europe back then.

HCLT, I didn't refer only to those who actually won the gold but also to those NTs that got silver and bronze and, as far as I remember, from the ECh 1989 to 2007, the podium was always a matter of Russia, Italy, Netherlands and Jugoslavia (for example i remember ECH 1991 gold URSS, silver Italy, bronze The Netherlands; 1993 gold Italy, silver The Netherlands, bronze Russia; 1995 gold Italy, silver The NL, bronze Jugoslavia...and so on...i think on Wikipedia we can find the full list).

Pearl, since Yugoslavia and Netherlands won ECh only once in that period you mentioned, I’d say USSR and later Italy dominated. After failing in 1988 Seoul Olympics, we saw Italy rising in 1989 with that superb squad. Though USSR won ECh again in 1991, Italy was already the best European team (in the world, BTW).

Jesteśmy mistrzami europy! Kocham to :) Piękne wspomnienia i łzy same do oczu napływają.. Oby jak najwięcej takich chwil.

@vatreni: the period you mentioned (1983-2009) was dominated by 4 countries -URSS/Russia, Italy, Netherlands and Jugoslavia/Serbia. Those NT teams were impressive, full of players who were aliens...no wonder that other NTs (even though they came from countries with a lot of v-b tradition) didn't get big results those days.

you're right. Bulgaria is also waiting for 26 years. These are countries with great volleyball tradition. The European Championship is perhaps the most difficult competition to play, because there are almost no weak teams.

Bulgaria waited almost the same time, vatreni. EC are too short, too turbulent to take medal easy

I simply can not understand that Poland waited 26 years to medal at the ECH, at the period of 1983-2009!

videos and photos- is the only thing for us to keep the memory :) amazing experiences and memories,thanks for message of this

Za każdym razem ciary przechodzą po plecach! :D

Aż łza w oku się pojawia... ;-) Mam nadzieję, że na IO usłysze od komentatora "Mamy złoto! Jesteśmy Mistrzami Olimpijskimi!" Czekam na to! :D

Jak miło to sobie przypomnieć ! :)